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A strand of popular heterodoxy endured, half-surfacing as superstition, the secret worship of polytheistic deities and even the practice of magic. But among the results of Sicily’s incorporation into the Spanish Empire was that it was barely affected by Renaissance humanism. Being part of the empire did, however, shield it from the worst effects of the decline in Mediterranean trade prompted by the colonisation of the Americas. And, after Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Naples, it got a whiff of the Enlightenment, thanks to the Bourbon monarch who would become Charles III of Spain. A second apparent liberation, by Giuseppe Garibaldi and a small army of Italian nationalists, again turned sour: Italy’s new, Piedmontese rulers bungled the peace that followed, and Sicily’s nascent Mafia exploited the chaos.
一连串风靡一时的异端邪说持续蔓延，迷信、对多神教神灵的秘密崇拜，甚至是魔法实践涌出水面。西西里并入西班牙帝国产生了诸多后果，但它几乎没有受到文艺复兴人文主义的影响。然而，作为帝国的一部分，它确实避免了美洲殖民引发的地中海贸易衰落所带来的最坏影响。在成为那不勒斯王国的一部分后，幸亏有了波旁王朝君主西班牙查理三世，西西里岛受到了启蒙运动的影响。由朱塞佩·加里波第和一小群意大利民族主义者领导的第二次浮于表面的解放运动再次失败：意大利新的皮埃蒙特统治者打破了随后到来的和平，而西西里新生的黑手党利用了这次混乱。
Mr Mackay is at his best when he weaves concise descriptions of customs, social changes, legends and cultural glories through this tumultuous narrative. Artistically, Sicily’s historical relationship with the Italian mainland bears some similarity to Ireland’s with Britain: an island with a disproportionately small middle class, sandwiched between a vast, uneducated peasantry and a landowning aristocracy largely indifferent to culture, which nevertheless produced a string of literary, artistic and musical giants. Vincenzo Bellini, Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello, Leonardo Sciascia, Renato Guttuso, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and, most recently, Andrea Camilleri, were all Sicilians.
麦凯最出色的地方在于，他在纷乱的叙事中，穿插了对风俗、社会变化、传说和文化成就的简洁描述。在艺术上，西西里与意大利大陆的历史关系和爱尔兰与英国之间的历史关系有些相似：这座岛屿上的中产阶级少得不成比例，他们夹在广大未受过教育的农民和对文化漠不关心但拥有土地的贵族之间，却产生了一系列文学、艺术和音乐巨匠。文森佐·贝里尼，乔瓦尼·维尔加，路伊吉·皮兰德娄，莱奥纳多·夏夏，雷纳托·古图索，朱塞佩·托马西·迪·兰佩杜萨，以及最近的安德烈亚·卡米莱里都是西西里人。
The author is at his worst when he fails to check his facts and verify his assertions. He appears to take as historically reliable the legendary founding date of Rome, describes the Benedictines and Jesuits as “sects” and makes Oscar Luigi Scalfaro prime minister of Italy, a post Mr Scalfaro never held. These are unfortunate missteps in an enjoyable canter across a history, and a place, which are entrancing and disturbing by turns.
作者没有核对他所写的事实和证实他的主张，这是最糟糕的一点。他似乎认为罗马传奇般的建立日期在历史上是可靠的，将本笃会和耶稣会士描述为“教派”，又将奥斯卡·路易吉·斯卡尔法罗写成意大利总理，而斯卡尔法罗从未担任过这个职位。这些失误令人感到遗憾，它们穿插在这段在历史之中、城市之间愉快慢跑的路上，欣喜与困扰交替而来。
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